U-Turn! Nigerian Govt Suspends Proposed Tax On Telecom Services

The Nigerian Government has Suspended the implementation of 5% excise duty on telecoms.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami disclosed this during the inauguration of the Presidential Committee on Excise Duty for the Digital Economy Sector on behalf President Mummadu Buhari in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Pantami said he personally rejected the policy and advised president Muhammadu Buhari against it in view of the effects it would have on the digital economy.

According to him, the introduction of excise duty in the telecommunication and information and communications technology industry would jeopardise the successes already recorded within the industry.

Pantami also noted that currently the ICT sector is over-burdened with multiple taxations both at the federal and state level.

He further disclosed that there are more than 41 taxes that telecommunication and ICT companies are paying and that it would be unfair to subject them to payment of excise duty.

Meanwhile, a presidential committee on the review of the excise duty in digital economy has been inaugurated by the federal government.

The committee has the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, as chairman and the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed as a member.

Other members are the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta, the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Muhammad Nami and representatives of the telecommunication industries.